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This was the trip I invited my niece, Michelle, to
come along to. I took
½
days leave for Friday and waited for her to drive up. She ran into traffic
on the way up from South Bromley, so we did not leave as I had originally
anticipated, though, to be fair, I had probably been dawdling myself. The
venue was the North Lees Campsite just outside the town of
Hathersage,
on the edge of Derbyshire. We also encountered more traffic en route,
running into late Friday afternoon peak traffic ourselves, consequently only
arriving around 19h40, with enough light to pitch the tent. We found the
Xerox tents quite easily, each tagged and penned with a "Xerox" inscription.
My tent still sported an orange tag from our previous visit, the current
tags being yellow. The mess tent was in its customary position, yet there
was no-one to be seen, all down in the town, we suspected. Michelle and I
made our way on foot down
Birley Lane
into
Hathersage. Walking all the way up the main road, checking the pubs and
restaurants, we ended up at the Scotsman's Pack at the top end of the town,
where we had a drink. We settled for a curry at the Indian restaurant and
then made our back up the hillside to the camp in the dark. There being no
street lighting and the mature trees on either side forming a canopy, it was
impossible to see the road at times in the sheer darkness, which made
Michelle quite jittery, probably a symptom of having grown up in South
Africa, as I had done. Luckily I had a tiny torch, which I used when
required.
The next morning we met the
rest of the crew. The group was small, with Martin Lighten and Bob Gaskell
at the helm. Michelle had decided to join the members who had elected to
walk Stanage
Edge,
just north of the camp, which I had done previously. This could probably
well be said for most of the rest who drove to
Edale.
Edale is best known to serious
walkers as the start (or southern end) of the Pennine Way, and to
less-ambitious walkers as a good starting point for day Peak District walks. |
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